


Punnett Convergence

by Mini_Goat



Series: Punnett [3]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Adoption, Childhood, Developing Friendships, F/M, Family Issues, Friendship/Love, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29778708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mini_Goat/pseuds/Mini_Goat
Summary: Follow up for Punnett Results. Jack is determined to make sure Orlin isn’t left in a hospital alone.
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Series: Punnett [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076918
Comments: 19
Kudos: 38





	1. Horseshoes and hand grenades

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my crazy writer’s group who all insisted this story needed its own ending. That said, for the first chapter 1 will be a rehash of the events that lead up to this story. AKA… previously... on Stargate!

“You’re so close.”

“I know.” Sam agrees absently until she registers she shouldn’t be hearing anyone in her lab. She turns around and sees a kid behind her by Bill’s chair. ‘Oh, fer’ cryin’ out loud’. She thinks. Not this crap again.

“Hello, Sam. It's good to see you again. I've missed you.” The small blond kid tells her.

“Who are you?” She asks him. The bigger unvoiced question is how did you get here?

“I had no choice but to take this form. It's me, Orlin.”

Sam stares at him, utterly shocked.

Later, Sam talked to Carolyn about what Orlin had said about his reasons for showing up as a kid. Apparently the more flexible mind of a child was the only way to retain Ancient knowledge for as long as possible before he was unable to access what he knows forever. She told Hank that because Orlin took a huge risk to even come to them, and that they should at least hear him out. Hank agreed to it… rather hesitantly, but he agreed.

Orlin tells them the Ori are using their followers to sap energy from them. Everyone is horrified by the idea, especially Daniel. Hank asks Orlin why the Alterans don’t just stop the Ori and Orlin admits that his people may no longer be able to do so.

The situation turned out to be worse than they first thought. Fisher and three other members of SG-6 had brought back a plague with them from an Ori held world. Orlin admitted to Sam that he couldn’t simply heal them but he could make a cure… but it would be a little harder than building a Stargate off e-Bay.

* * *

“This is a one-way trip for you this time, isn't it? The Others… they're not going to help you ascend again, are they?” Sam asks Orlin as they ate a meal together in the commissary.

“I don't think so.” Orlin thinks for a long moment. He looks at her and hesitantly says to her. “I know it must be kind of weird, my appearing this young.”

She smiles oddly, uncomfortable at the question. “A little…but I understand.” And takes a bite of her cantaloupe.

Orlin looks at her wistfully. “My only regret in all this is that human social conventions preclude us from showing affection the way I wish I could.”

Sam stops chewing and looks up, glances side to side hoping no one was close enough to overhear the conversation before she gives him an incredulous look. Did he honestly think she’d really been interested? She doesn’t even swallow before saying, shocked, “Excuse me?”

“My feelings haven't changed for you since we last saw each other, Sam. Maybe in a few years…” he says earnestly.

Oh fer’ cryin… Sam chuckles uncomfortably. Way to go, Carter. You did such a good job tricking him, he honestly thought you were just as interested in him back then. “Uh…”

Orlin rushes on to tell her, not understanding her reaction. “It's okay. We don't need to talk about it any further. I just wanted you to know that taking human form at this age, while necessary, didn't come easy because of how I knew I would feel… being here with you again.”

Sam sits there, her entire body conveying a single thought… yikes…

“Is it me, or is this food not very good?” He asks her, not noticing her body language.

Sam smiles. He asked that before the weird conversation about his sexual feelings for her. “Are you making a joke?”

“No. It has been a while since I tasted food, but this seems terrible.” He says, his voice sincere.

She looks at him oddly and hesitates before saying. “We just talked about that.”

“Oh right, I'm sorry. I'm used to hearing my own thoughts in my mind, and sometimes it's hard to distinguish whi-which ones I say out loud…Did I tell you I still have feelings for you?” He asks her.

Sam gives him a deer in the headlights look. “Yes, thank you…yeah, we don't need to go into that again.” Ever. Not happening, kid, even if I wasn’t married with two kids and a foster daughter.

Orlin smiles at her, oblivious to her discomforted smile.

Sam looks away and thinks silently, ‘Awkward’…

* * *

Sam nuzzles Jack’s chest, toying with the sparse fluff of hair between his pectorals. She was warm and sated in his arms but not able to doze off in spite of the late hour.

“How many pennies will I need?” Jack asks his wife as his fingers trail up her arm to her shoulder and then into her hair to tilt her face towards his own.

Sam sighs. “Sometimes I hate how well you read me.”

Jack frowns thoughtfully. “I could play dumb if you want, but you probably won’t get much sleep that way.”

She gives him an eye roll and an ironic smile. “Probably not.” They had already made love. He’d be up for another round, he always was but exhausting and satiated her body was, their lovemaking hadn’t shut off her brain the first time. “I just don’t understand why he’s doing this to himself.” She confesses, her voice soft and choked with emotion.

Jack closed his eyes. He knew Sam cared about Orlin more than she’d care to admit. He knew she’d done more than just flirt with the guy to get what he’d asked of her out of him. He’d even granted what permission was his to give in the situation for her to do whatever she needed to do to draw him out. Then lied to George about the whole thing to cover up that it had been Sam’s idea all along. Wasn’t the first or the last time they had lied to George. After all, things had been very casual between them at the time, both knowing the assignment came first. She’d bounced back quickly though. Orlin had been something of an itch to scratch. A safe and unlikely partner because when the SGC caught up with him they were going to shuffle him right back to his planet of origin or off to a very deep dark hole in the government. Jack wasn’t a stupid man…. But he’d also never asked directly simply because it wasn’t his place to ask… and, in a way, a part of him sort of didn’t really want to know. Orlin’s actions at the time had been answer enough.

“I’d say it’s probably the same reason why I always sacrificed myself rather than see you hurt.” Jack finally says, knowing she’ll read between the lines.

Sam sighed but it was angry sounding. “He kept bringing _that_ up.” She divulged. “Jack, I never did anything more than kiss him and let him feel me up a little… and it was only to get information out of him.”

“Sam…. Even if you’d done more… it wasn’t my place to judge you about it.” He told her. It hadn’t been. He’d already screwed up with the Laira thing for him to say diddly squat to her about her own love life.

“I just want you to know I didn’t run around on you even though you told me you could deal with it if I did.” She finally admitted.

“Why is that still bothering you, Carter? Have I ever indicated that I’d love you less?” He gives her a stern look. “If I’d lost you to him, it would have been because he had something I couldn’t give you emotionally.” He kissed her forehead. “I know I’ve been a putz sometimes, Sam. I’m glad you took a chance on me anyway.”

Sam chuckled. “How did you manage to make this about you?”

“Years of practice.” He told her. He sighed as he brushed a kiss along her temple. “You’re worried about the kid. Makes sense to me. He’s stuck here, isn’t he?”

“Yah.” She says sadly. “And it’s pretty much my fault that he is.”

“Oh, I’d say it’s his own fault. He could have just written you a note you know.”

Sam looked at him oddly. “What?”

“He could have popped into your head and told you what we needed to know without becoming corporeal, right? I mean, he did it before, didn’t he?”

Sam realized Jack was right, Orlin had before when he’d been trying to get her to understand what he was. “I suppose so.”

“Ok… so he’s in the situation he’s in because he was thinking with his little brain. You said he’s what? Thirteen? Were you ever genuinely interested… you know… before?”

“Well… I mean a little... he’s got a very sweet Owen Wilson vibe going for him but… long term… no. He’s too much like a charming version of Daniel.”

Jack choked on a laugh. Sam and Danny had hit it off right away as he knew they would. He’d figured they would hook up too once Danny was over losing Sha’re… but almost immediately Danny and Sam had a wonder twins vibe when around each other. They were totally in sync… but in a very platonic kind of way. It was actually rather sweet. Sadly, Daniel’s experiences had made him cynical through the years… but he figured that was the usual outcome of idealism. It was certainly why he mocked idealists having been born a cynic himself. But going into the military because you got caught boosting cars will do that for a guy.

“Ok… so he was… weirdly cute.” Jack says affably. “And I’m not one to talk but isn’t he a bit young for you?”

Sam swats his shoulder. “Once two people are adults, age really doesn’t matter that much.” She reminded him.

“Says the woman that keeps making kids with a guy almost old enough to be her dad.” Jack says in amusement which earns him another swat.

“Keep that up and you can consider yourself done with doing that.”

Jacks eyebrows go up. “Is that… still an option?” Another baby with Sam both intrigues and terrifies him. On the one hand, he adores his kids with all his heart… on the other he wasn’t getting any younger and if you counted Charlie and Cassie he was up to four without Loki’s little mess. At least that was more of a keeping an eye on rather than raising situation.

Sam hums noncommittally. “Let’s play that one by ear for now.”

So… still on the table. Jack decides and smiles a little. He was used to big Catholic families so none of this situation really disturbed him. “He’s going to need a home.” Jack finally says.

Sam nods.

“One that knows who and what he is in case he has trouble adjusting.”

“He’s having memory problems.”

Jack hums. “How bad?”

“It’s hard to tell. Repeating himself. Forgetting a task he just did. He’s trying too hard to retain his knowledge from being ascended and I think it’s getting worse.”

Jack nods and nuzzles her ear gently. “All right.”

She lifts herself enough to make eye contact. “Jack?”

“He’s just a kid, Sam. Even if he doesn’t lose all his memories, he’s going to need some kind of stable home life for a while.” He tells her with a small shrug and a thoughtful frown.

“And you aren’t worried about his feelings for me?”

“Should I be?” his mouth quirks into a half smile. “He’s a kid, Sam. I don’t think I need to worry about him for about a decade and I hope by then he’ll have taken an interest in someone else closer to him in age or at least not happily married with a bunch of kids.” He grinned. “One of whom is only a couple years younger than he is.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Oh yah.” He says with a grin.

“Pervert.” She says with a laugh.

“You ok now?” he asks after claiming her lips with a gentle kiss.

She nods. “I think so.”

“Good. Go to sleep Carter. It’s past midnight and I have to work tomorrow.” He grumbles and settles back down into the pillows and pulls her with him.


	2. A locomotive often lost

Two days later, Orlin knocks over a sample tray and Johnson chews both Orlin and Sam out because Orlin is now a danger to others. And to the project. Sam argues with Johnson but Orlin agrees he’s a safety hazard to others now and leaves the lab. The hazmat crew cleans up the mess on the floor and Sam watches Orlin leave with worry.

She finds Hank in a corridor and gives him an update that is… useless she realizes. They haven’t made progress without the blood sample from a prior and Cam and Daniel weren’t back yet.

Hank having gotten an update from Col. Johnson, he goes to find Orlin and ask a final favor from the boy.

* * *

“You don’t have to do this, Carter.” He tells her gently. He knew on some level Sam had genuinely cared about the guy and felt guilty about Orlin’s current situation. They had talked, that first night, about what to do with him originally. They were already talking about getting a bigger house soon anyway. Jack figured what was one more kid at this point. Grace would have given Orlin something to fixate on besides Sam.

Sam shook her head though. “He’s in this condition because he cared about me, Jack. It’s important.”

“I know.” He agreed and squeezed her hand. He got it. The thing he loved the most about Sam was how kind of a heart she had. If the kid got better, he’d talk to her about fostering him rather than him being in a medical facility. It didn’t seem fair to keep the kid in a hospital if there was nothing more wrong with him than a bit of mental impairment.

Sam went in and spent time with Orlin who had no memory of her at all. Sam was both deeply saddened and deeply relieved.

Meanwhile, Jack talked to the kid’s doctors to make sure he had everything he needed for now and to find out his long term prognosis. He could probably get him into Grace’s school which catered to special needs kids as well. Currently the care facility believed he’d had a catastrophic brain injury.

He’d talk to Marge too. She wasn’t as young as she used to be. Orlin wasn’t prone to outbursts but he was extremely absent minded. He might remember Sam the next time she visited… he might not. Only time would tell.

* * *

Jack sits in his office at the Pentagon and ponders the situation with Orlin. Initially, he’d been expecting to take in a kid with some memory loss problems but it was clear now that Orlin was beyond that. His memory loss was catastrophic in its cascade of failure. Regardless of his motivations… Orlin had saved the Earth and warned them of what to expect… and possibly given them some ideas on how to defeat them so the war didn’t drag on for eight years like it had with the Goa’uld. Lost in thought, Jack threw wads of paper across the room at a basket.

Finally he picked up his personal cell phone. It was answered by an exasperated woman yelling “Jake, get back here right now! Jack, I’m a little busy.” She told him.

Jack laughed. Had Sam given Marge a run for her money too or had that all been his genetics? Grace had gotten into things but she was more sneaky. Jake was turning out to be a toddler sized Jack. “I have a question for you and you know how this works, you don’t have to say yes.”

“What stray are you rescuing now, Jack?”

“Why would you say it’s a stray?” He complained in an injured tone.

“Because you collect hopeless cases, dear. Details.” She ordered him.

“Carter met this kid because of the program and… well it’s kind of our fault he has a catastrophic brain injury.”

“How catastrophic?”

“Oh, he’s fine physically and such but he’s lost all his memories and he struggles to retain new things he learns. That might improve… but it might not.” He admits.

Marge sighs. Just then, Jack overheard a triumphant “Gotcha!” Then the laughter of his son over the phone. “You _will_ take a bath, young man.” There’s a pause long enough to make Jack wonder if she was trying figure out how to tell him to shove it up his ass. “Jack, honestly… what’s one more at this point. Jake won’t be little forever. You guys might have another baby but you might not. Is this kid violent?”

“Not that we’ve seen. He has terrible migraines from the injury though.”

“That sounds like you’ve already made up your mind?”

“I won’t lie, I know what I’d do if it was only my decision to make.”

“Well… what’s one more at this point?” She says again philosophically. “But you better find out how he gets on with Grace first.” She admonishes him. “And you better get Sam on board too.”

“That was already in the works.” He agrees.

“Well, doll… then you better hope Grace is on board with this or you’re going to have a long row to hoe.”

Jack chuckled. Sometimes Marge sounded like his great grandpa. “I figure I’ll introduce them to each other, see how it goes. If they get along, we’ll probably need to look into getting a bigger house sooner than we planned.”

“You keep having kids with Sam, you’ll need a bigger house anyway.”

“Yah yah…” Jack said chuckling.

“I’m going to wash this grubby little thing you made. We’ll see you Tuesday, Jack?”

“Unless there’s a problem, yup.”

Marge said goodbye and hung up on him. The last thing he heard was “oh no you don’t” As the phone clicked off and he laughed.

* * *

Grace looked at Jack in interest as she got buckled into the passenger seat of Jack’s aging green truck. “All right, so what’s up?”

Jack focused on pulling out of their neighborhood. When he got onto a main road he started to explain. “Your grandpa told you way more about your mom and my jobs than was strictly allowed. Now I get it that your grandpa didn’t give a single hoot about the rules most of the time after he switched jobs and I can hardly give him a stern talking to now.”

“Dad…”

“Now… hear me out…” He shook his head. “I sound like my great grandpap when I say that. Anyway, do you remember a few years back, your first trip out to see Uncle Mark and Aunt Kim? You were about six or seven.”

“I remember that. Aunt Kim bought me an American doll and Uncle Teal’c had one made with no hair and a tattoo on its forehead after.”

Jack chuckled. “Well, while you were gone, your mom made a friend who stayed with her for a couple weeks while he helped out the base with a problem.”

Grace looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to remember the events before she left. “Was that her friend that said I was special and mom didn’t know he’d gotten there yet?”

Jack looked at her oddly. Sam had suspected Grace could see Orlin but she’d said nothing of it after he talked to her on the phone that one time. “Yah… that’s the guy.” He admitted.

“I think he had a crush on mom.” Grace tells him and Jack chuckles.

* * *

“Sam has a daughter?”

Jack’s face falls with sadness. Orlin was still having severe memory problems. “Yup,” He said kindly. “You met her once a long time ago when she was little. I thought you guys might like to get to know each other a little.”

“Hi.” Grace said and wiggled her fingers almost shyly at the boy.

“Uh… hi… I uh… I wasn’t expecting anyone today.” He says and plucks at his shirt worried it might not be clean.

“Oh, it’s ok, we just dropped by to see how you are doing.” Grace sits down next to him. “Dad says you got hurt a little while ago and are having trouble remembering things.”

He nods. “Yah… and when I try too hard… I get these… really bad fronaches.”

Grace nods solemnly and tilts her head. Her hand comes up and she gently touches a spot just above his right ear. “Right here?” Her eyes get a far away look for a moment and there’s a faint glow where she touches him.

Orlin gives her a startled look. “What… what did you do?”

“I’m not sure.” She admitted and gave her dad a worried look. That had never happened before.

Jack sits on the other side of Orlin and takes Grace’s hand. “Side effect of those genetics I was telling you about.” He tells her but he looks thoughtful, they would need to discuss this some thought Gracie knew when to not say things already. “What were you thinking when that happened?”

“That I didn’t want him to hurt.”

Jack nods. He didn’t know how he’d healed Bra’tac but he had. He couldn’t do it now though. Grace’s strength might come from her mother’s extraordinary intelligence.

* * *

“Dad… I think I fixed something… I think... I think I maybe can fix what’s wrong… eventually. But I can’t do it unless he’s got a headache. It’s his brain trying to heal and... that thing… where my hand glowed… I wanted him to stop being in so much pain and it fixed something inside him.”

Jack looked at her. “You’re sure?”

“Well no… but it… well it felt like that.”

Jack looks out the window for a moment then dials his phone. He gets through to who he’s looking for and tells them Colonel Carter would like a new MRI done on Orlin to compare to his last couple scans. Preferably today if they can schedule it.

He turns to his daughter after he turns off his phone. “You won’t be able to tell anyone but your mom and I.”

She nods, her dark blond curls bouncing. “I know.” She looks at him with her head tilted. “But if I can help him… he might not be… like… normal again but he might be ok enough to have some kind of life.”

“Yah. That was kind of my hope.” Aside from the concerning random use of Lantian, he thinks.

“We’d have to move. The house isn’t big enough for another kid, dad.”

Jack nods solemnly. “We were going to eventually anyway, your brother’s room is a postage stamp. But we were going to put it off for a year or two, this might mean having to move sooner. That’s why I said this affects you the most.”

“We’d stay in Colorado Springs?”

“Well. I mean it’s the military, Grace. I can’t make you any guarantees but your mom is literally **_the_** expert on the program so she’s pretty indispensible.”

“What did Auntie Marge say?”

“She said what’s one more kid at this point.” He said, chuckling.

“Have you talked to mom yet?”

Jack shook his head. ”Sort of.”

“DAD!”

“I’ll talk to her.” He growls. “You’re worse than your grandfather.” He grumbled.

“Thank you.” She told him primly.

“It wasn’t a compliment.” He grumbled.

“It was to meeee….” She sing songs with a smug smile.

Jack shakes his head and laughs.


	3. The more things change

“Hi Mrs. Bering.” Grace says cheerily to Jeannie, the late middle aged blond haired owner of the bookstore.

“Hi Jeannie, how’s Warren?” Jack asks of the other owner.

“Doing well. He left some westerns for you. Found one of your great grandpa’s on e-bay if you want him to bid on it.”

“Which one?”

“The one about the sharpshooter lady and her friends taking on the KKK[1].”

“Hey, I remember that one! It was one of grandpap’s favorites. He always swore it was a true story.”

Jeannie chuckled. “I imagine he said that about all his stories.”

“Well, you know what they say… truth is often stranger than fiction. And in another reality Wormhole X-treme! is based on real people.” He said with a grin. Out of the corner of his eye, Grace was digging through the books on quantum mechanics.

“Wouldn’t that be something.” She told him with a chuckle.

Jack’s phone rang. He looked at the number and frowned as he answered. “O’Neill.” He listened for a moment, his frown deepening. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Keep me updated if there’s any change.” Jacks expression clouded. “Shit.” He snarled under his breath. He glanced at his daughter. “Hey Grace, we need to go.”

Grace looked up with a disappointed look then saw her dad’s expression. He only made that face when he was worried about mom.

He shook his head minutely. He didn’t have any answers yet.

Jeannie looked from one to the other. “Work?”

“I need to get to the mountain. Something came up.” He told her.

She looks thoughtful for a moment. “Jon works today. He should be here in about half an hour, if you need to get to the base right away I could watch Grace and have Jon or Samantha take her home. Sometimes she drops him off.”

Jack looked at Grace’s worried expression and knew the bookstore would be good distraction. “Don’t spend all my money.” He admonishes her.

Grace shrugs.

“I’ll call as soon as I know something.” He tells her, knowing she’s been through this enough to worry but know that all she could do was wait and hope.

Grace sighs.

“Be good for Mrs. Bering and your cousin when he drives you home.”

“Ok, dad.” She tells him with a worried frown identical to her father’s.

Jack gives one of her curls a light tug and kisses the top of her head. “You know I’ll never rest until she’s home.” He said softly.

She smiles wanly. “I know, Dad.”

Jack nods and leaves.

“So… if you want something a little lighter than usual I got in some classic fantasy novels this week.” Jeannie tells Grace.

Grace nods and bites her lip. “I’d like that, yah.”

* * *

“All right so what happened?” Jack demands as he stalks into the control room. He’s wearing regular BDUs as his Class As were in the closet at home when he got the call. The bookstore was halfway between base and the house and not worth the detour home to grab his monkey suit and he still kept a locker on the base for emergency situations such as this.

“They went through the gate and… nothing.” Walter admitted to Jack by way of explanation.

“Nothing as in the gate shut down with them in it or nothing as in you can’t find them?” Jack demanded, needing clarification.

Bill Lee was typing on the control computer for the gate. “They went through, sir…. But when we pinged the MALP… SG-1 was just… gone. They left PX7-357 hot but no one came through on this side.”

“Was there a solar flare again?”

“No sir. We always check for that now to prevent that happening again.” Walter tells him.

“All right. They have to be somewhere, right? They might have been bumped to another gate if the one on their side malfunctioned. Try to triangulate the nearest gates. See if they just got sent somewhere else.” Jack ordered the two men, dropping any pretense of not understanding how this all worked.

“We thought of that first, sir, but they would have attempted to dial home again if they had.” Bill tells him.

“Unless the gate they went through has a broken DHD.” Jack reminded Walter and Bill.

“That occurred to me.” Bill admitted, still typing.

“All right. Keep at it. I’ll go talk to Landry about a recon team in case they are hurt and can’t dial out.”

“Yes sir.” Walter tells him.

* * *

Jack calls the landline for the house. Marge picks up. “O’Neill residence.” She says even though she recognizes the number. Some habits just didn’t die.

“Grace get home, ok?” Jack asked without preamble.

“Jon dropped her off an hour ago. What’s the situation?” She knew better than to ask what’s wrong. Jack couldn’t tell her anyway.

“Carter’s team is missing. The geeks are trying to track them down and see if we need to send a rescue team. We don’t have any reason to think they are in trouble yet. They were under fire on their way out but everyone was still fine. Tell Grace as far as we know her mom is okay.”

Marge sighs. “Well, I suppose. At least I only have to worry about one of you now instead of both of you. Don’t run off and do anything crazy. You have a house full of kids who need their dad.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jack tells her almost contritely. She knew him too well. Of course he’d run off to rescue Sam if he could. It was who he was.

“I guess keep me in the loop as much as you can.” She says with a sigh.

“I will, Marge. I promise. Don’t smoke pot around the kids.” He jokes.

“Square.” She calls him and chuckles.

They hang up and Marge sighs again, heavily. She’d better go talk to Grace. She always took things harder if she didn’t have any details.

* * *

Grace is laying on her bed, one arm around her little brother, absently corralling him each time he tries to wiggle away. Marge smiles a little. Like her father, she was a natural with kids. In her free hand, she’s trying to read an old western[2] of her dad’s. “Be gentle with those, kiddo. Some of them are really old.”

Grace nods absently. “Mrs. Bering found him some reprints from the sixties. They are pretty old but not ‘I’m afraid to touch them’ old.”

“Still, be gentle. Some of the paper they used to print those on wasn’t very sturdy.” Marge tells her kindly.

“I know. They are kind of fun to read though. Even though it’s pretty obvious most of it is ‘poppycock’ as dad says his great grandpa told him.”

Marge chuckles as she sits on the bed and reaches out to Jake who readily climbs into her lap. “I’m sure they are. There’s some local history I found that the author really was running around solving crimes and stuff but nothing as crazy those books describe. Steam powered cars.” She chuckled. “Can you imagine?” She ruffles Grace’s curls with her free hand. “Your dad called.”

“Mom’s hurt, isn’t she?”

“Ah… well… they aren’t sure. They can’t find her right now.”

Grace rolled over and flopped dramatically. Marge snatched up the book and placed it on the nightstand. “When your grandma started dating your grandpa, he’d sometimes disappear for weeks on missions and she’d have no idea if he was even coming back. The military never tells families anything one way or the other. We have something of an advantage with your dad’s job. At least we know a little of what’s going on. And it’s your dad, sweetie. You know how he is. He’s not going to rest until he finds her.”

Jake pulls away from Marge’s arms and crawls over to Grace and tries to cuddle with his older sister.

“I wish that made me feel better.” Grace says.

“I wish it made me feel better too.” Marge admits.

[1] See Legend of Cheyenne for the details of this event in an alternate universe.

[2] _The Mystery of the Feathercreek Murder – Ernest Pratt (_ seriously… look this up… you will not be disappointed _)_


	4. Cereal Killer

The next morning Grace sat at the kitchen table poking at her cereal. Marge had stayed the night in Cassie’s room in the basement. It wasn’t quite done but it had walls and was in the corner with the safety access window. Jack was working on getting a plumber out to make her a bathroom but that might be stalled now. Grace had pointedly set up the port-a-crib in her bedroom rather than sleep on the floor of her brother’s bedroom. Marge had let it go. If she needed the comfort of her sibling over this… Well, there were a lot of nights Debbie had crawled into her bed in the apartment she shared in their twenties when Jacob had been declared missing.

“Did you feed your brother?” She asks the nearly adolescent girl with gangly legs and a riot of dark golden blond curls.

“He’s still asleep.” Grace mumbled around a mouthful of Froot Loops.

Marge makes herself some toast and sits down with a mug of coffee. Sam had once told her that she wanted a green house with a yellow kitchen, a front porch… she’d been describing Jack’s house all along. The humor being that she’d described the same house to Pete and still kept dating the guy anyway.

If Jack got his way though, they would be leaving the house Sam loved so Marge decided she’d do a bit of investigating on her own about whether this was a good idea or not. It might not matter. There was no room to add on to the house unless they tore Jack’s observatory deck down on the roof. Sam would never agree to that no matter what the reason.

“So doll… Your dad tells me that you went to visit someone yesterday.”

Grace nods and takes another mouthful of cereal. After she swallows, she gives her great aunt the side eye. “Is this an inquisition?”

“Not unless you make it one.” Marge said mildly, taking a sip of her coffee.

Grace quirked her mouth to the side. “I only met him once.”

Marge takes another bite of her toast. “So?”

“He seems… mostly harmless…”

“Cute. Is there a 'but’? An ‘and’?”

Grace shrugged. “I feel sorry for him.” She admitted. “He knew mom but can’t remember her at all now. Mom is pretty unforgettable.”

Marge chuckles. “You got that right.”

“Anyway…” Grace says with a shrug, “He gets these bad headaches. I think he might have been smart before he got hurt. Not mom smart but probably pretty close.”

Marge nods solemnly. She notices what Grace is avoiding. “This isn’t about the kid.”

Grace’s face crumples. “What if she doesn’t come back this time?” She asks, biting her lip, her eyes welling up. “We almost lost dad a bunch of times and now we might lose mom instead.”

Marge scooted her chair over and wrapped her arms around Grace, her silver peppered brown hair settling against Grace’s wild curls. “Your dad won’t let that happen, doll, any more than your mom ever let him die either. Part of why it took them so long to get their act together was because they were afraid to let each other be alone out there. This is probably tearing your dad up inside too. He’s been in love with your mom for a really long time.”

“He said when he saw her the second time she took his breath away.” Grace says.

“I believe him. I had to work on your mom a lot to get her to tell him you were his… though come to find out he’d already figured it out on his own ages before he told us he had”

“Yah… dad is pretty smart.” Grace says with a watery smile.

“Uh, I think we know who your brother takes after…” Marge says as Jake peeks around the corner. He’d managed to lever himself out of the port-a-crib and figured out how to get down the stairs. “Looks like your dad needs to get a baby gate.” She says with a wry smile.

“Probably won’t matter if they take in Orlin.”

“So that’s not a problem for you?”

Grace shrugs. “He needs a home, Auntie Marge.” She says.

Marge smiles slowly as she scopes up Jake. “You’re a lot like your father, doll. You may be stubborn like your grandfather but your dad is the one that always wants to save everyone.” She grins. “And that’s why I know your mom will be ok.”

“You know that’s not really how things work right, Auntie Marge?”

“On the contrary, young lady… that is exactly how things have worked around here for nearly a decade. I see no reason why they would have changed now.” She winks.

Grace gives her a lopsided smile and chuckles a little. “Were you a lot like grandma?”

“Are you kidding? I am nothing like your grandma. Now your mom… your mom is just _exactly_ like Debbie which is why I adore her even if she’s annoyingly sweet.” She leaned forward. “But your grandma was a troublemaker like you.” She winks and hands Grace her brother so she can grab the toddler some fruit and yogurt.

* * *

A day later, Sam walks in the door with Jack and sweeps Grace into her arms. “I’m all right, kiddo, just got a little turned around getting home is all.” She tells the tall eleven year old and kisses the top of her head. Let’s go make some cookies?”

“Snickerdoodles?” Jack says hopefully.

“There _are_ other cookies, Jack.”

“But I love your snickerdoodles. They remind me of…things.” He gives her an amused little smile.

She leans in and whispers in his ear. “They remind you of propositioning me.”

He stands up straighter and gives her an offended frown. “Well that was the things.” He complains.

Sam laughs and shakes her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story behind this can be found in another one of my works. This is indeed the Sam of Punnett who admonishes herself to stop screwing with Jack's feelings by flirting with Marty. In my head all of my realities are equally valid and therefore there's no reason to think they are anything but alternate realities of themselves.


	5. Again and Again

Jack’s schedule still involved him being in DC more than not. He was working on convincing the head of the DoD and the other joint chiefs that he could telecommute to DC but his priority should be their air and space programs in the Colorado and Utah area. Much of the R&D for the fleet had moved to the lesser known research base. Partially because of the incident with Adrian Conrad.

Weeks passed. The Ori try to brainwash Teal’c. They lose the Prometheus which break’s Sam’s heart. She loved that ugly scow. Jack was more upset about the loss of life.

Sam is busy with missions and her team so Jack takes Grace back to see Orlin again. He didn’t have to bribe her with a trip to the bookstore though he regretted his decision almost immediately.

“Hey dad?” Grace said conversationally.

“Yah kiddo?”

“What’s Samantha’s last name?”

“Uhh… who?”

“Jon’s girlfriend. You know…. Pretty... blond… looks and acts just like mom.”

“Uh…” Jack goes for playing dumb. “I’m sure she told me.” He assumes a befuddled expression.

“Kind of funny how Uncle Mike died of crib death at two and yet… is somehow also Jon’s dad.”

Jack sighs. “Who taught you this technique? Your grandpa?”

Grace grins a little. “You always tell me to learn from the best.” She says smugly.

“The best at sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong.” Jack grumbles under his breath. “Jon isn’t your brother if that’s what you’re thinking… it’s complicated.”

“Dad, you and mom and Uncle Danny and Uncle T and even Grandpa work for a super secret military project under the mountain. You and mom had a one night stand when she got fired and you went on a mission thinking you would die so it didn’t matter then you mooned over each other for nearly a decade instead of getting married and you think me figuring out that Samantha is related to mom somehow is the complicated part?”

“Well, when you put it _that_ way.” Jack says defensively.

“Ok, dad… I know you aren’t supposed to tell me this stuff but Grandpa already did tell me lots of it and I know Cassie knows more than she lets on about what you do. Plus I’ve seen the Gate. Remember.”

Jack shook his head. “It’s your age, Grace. Cassie had to be read in. We had no choice. Someone put a bomb in her to take out the people who work with your mom and me. This is… a bit different…”

“How different?”

“Galaxies away different.” He said with finality as he turned left onto the highway.

Grace looks at him for a long time. Her curls are pulled back into a pair of ponytails. She’s started trying to tame down the mass of hair she has and seems to be getting the hang of it. Jack would admit, he was going to miss Sam grumbling about struggling with her hair and him teaching her how to handle brushing it without damaging her curls or losing the brush in Grace’s hair. He’d watched his grandma deal with her thick curly hair for years and knew all the tricks. His tended to start getting curly if he let it get too long too. Jake’s hair looked like it might take after him too.

Finally Grace speaks. “Ok. You don’t have to tell me. I’m just going to tell you what I think and you don’t have to say anything at all.”

“Oh no... I know that trick, young lady.” He wags a finger at her as they wait for the traffic light to change.

“Then just tell me.”

“No.”

“It’s going to be one or the other, dad. Deal with it.” Her tone is dry.

“Now you just listen here young lady—“

“Dad!”

“What?!” he yelps in exasperation as the car behind them honks their horn. Jack smoothly guides the truck into motion again.

“Who am I going to tell?”

“Ah…. What?”

“Who… am… I… going… to… tell?”

Jack scowls. “Craaapppp… Fine. But don’t you dare tell your mother I’m the one that told you. You—“ He waved his hand in an oblique circle. “You just tell your mom you figured it out on your own like last time.”

Grace smirks in satisfaction and watches her dad stick his lower lip out and blow upwards.

“All right… You know how Jon always jokes he’s my clone?”

“Wait, someone _cloned_ you dad?!”

“Yah.”

“ _WHY?!”_ her voice dripped with incredulity.

“That’s what I’m saying?! Why me of all people, right?!” Jack says in a rush because honestly if anyone got it, it was this kid he’d made. “Anyway… it was after your mom and I were more serious about each other…” His hand waved around absently, punctuating the parts he was leaving out for obvious reasons. “And some guys with a lot better doohickeys than us thought my genetics would help with their health problems because I’m ‘special’.” Jack makes air quotes when he says special then grabs the wheel again. “So they made an extra me and implanted my memories in him except another guy from their people had already messed with my genetics to make sure I couldn’t be cloned… and the clone came out… well… short.”

Grace snorted then giggled in amusement.

Jack grinned a little. She sounded so much like her mother when she did that. “Anyway… your mom figured it out because Jon thought he was me for about a week but he’s not. He’s still stuck with all my memories.”

Grace looked at her dad for a long moment. “Noooo…” she said, her mouth hanging open. “You didn’t really?”

Jack shrugged. “I knew he’d get lonely right away… or as soon as he figured out teenage girls have the attention spans of hamsters.” He gave her a side eye. “Present company excluded.”

“I’m not offended. I’m not a teenager.” Grace says shrugging. She grins though.

“Right. Sooo.. we ah.. well… your mom and I…” Jack trails off remembering the day he dropped Jon off at Mountain Springs High School.

* * *

Cloned Jack sighed. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but it’s going to hurt too much seeing her every day… seeing you with her every day.” He admits of Sam.

“Yah. I could see how that would be a problem.” Jack agreed with the boy who now calls himself Jon. “The offer is open if you ever change your mind.” He tells the kid. A thought crosses Jack’s mind but he momentarily sets it aside.

Jack pulled up to Mountain Springs High School. They talked a little more and Jon decided he won’t keep in touch. Oddly, that wasn’t what Jack was planning to say to him. He was worried for the kid. He knew how doggedly determinedly he’d push forward through the pain but that wouldn’t make it go away. Something would have to be done eventually but for now he had to let the kid go until he realized he needed help, or was willing to accept it when offered. Yah it would hurt but… he might be able to fix that.

Jon got out and walks up to a trio of giggling girls. ‘That’s going to keep you busy for about a minute, kid, until you realize how vapid teenage girls are again. But it will buy me some time.’

As he drove away, Jack dials the second number on his cell phone. “Carter! How do you feel about a science experiment?”

“Is this an experiment where we talk the Asgard into cloning me too so your clone doesn’t decide to tear up the state of Colorado in boredom?”

Jack grins at her answer. “Did I ever tell you how I ended up in the military, Carter?”

“Only three times, sir.” She said laughing.

“Sooo… will you?”

“She’s going to have to avoid Mark.”

“Sam, you avoided your brother for years.”

“So I did.” She chuckles. “All right. You’re probably right. He’s going to cause trouble if I’m not there to supervise.”

“I’ll meet you on base. Let’s go sweet talk Thor before he leaves.”

Jack snaps back from his memory. “So your mom agreed I might have a point and we had her cloned too. We keep an eye on them and he’s listed as my nephew so there’s no issue with signing stuff for school. Your mom handles the same things for hers though technically we’re now both legal guardian of both of them.”

“So, they’re teenage you and mom with all your memories… left to their own devices?” She raised an eyebrow. “That’s a terrible idea, dad.”

“Of course it is but it’s a better idea than leaving him alone. Do you think I could function without your mom?”

“Dad, you can’t function even with mom some days.”

“Hey, just because I lost the permission forms for summer camp for you does not mean I can’t function without your mom.” Jack said mock defensively.

“They were on your desk, dad.” Grace admonishes him.

Jack winks at his daughter. “See… he needs her.”

Grace chuckles. “Ok… yah… he does.”

“On that note, we’re here and you are not to speak of any of this to anyone ever even if you think they already know.”

“Yah yah. Come on, dad. Let’s go see Orlin.”

“Pushy kid.” Jack grumbles.


End file.
